The father of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unwittingly became an agony uncle on Friday as listeners to a local radio interview called in desperate for his secrets to the successful upbringing of his billionaire son.The dentist described his son's childhood but insisted he is not an expert on childrearing, claiming his 26-year-old son’s success is due to an early exposure to computers at his dental surgery in Westchester, New York.Dr Edward Zuckerberg also revealed when Mark discovered he had been named Time magazine’s person of the year he said to his father: ‘It must have been a really slow year.’
Speaking to Westchester station WVOX he explained: ‘My kids all grew up around the office and were all exposed to computers.
‘There are advantages to being exposed to computers early on. That certainly enriched Mark's interest in technology.’
Dr Zuckerberg said he computerised his home offices in 1985, a year after Mark’s birth.
The dentist said his own computer science background was ‘limited’ - he majored in biology at college - but he said he's ‘always been technologically oriented in the office’ and ‘always had the latest high-tech toys,’ including an early Atari 800 computer.
‘It came with a disk for programming,’ he said. ‘I thought Mark might be interested and I imparted that knowledge to him. From there it took off.’He said Mark - who is the youngest self-made billionaire in the world - got a book on programming, but ‘ultimately his ability to programme was self-taught.’
A number of callers to the live radio program asked Dr Zuckerberg for advice on parenting.
He said: ‘Probably the best thing I can say is something that my wife and I have always believed in – rather than impose upon your kids or try and steer their lives in a certain direction, to recognise what their strengths are and support their strengths and support the development of the things they're passionate about.’
Dr Zuckerberg said he didn't believe in ‘physical discipline’ but added that certain behaviours require parents to let children know ‘right there on the spot, this is a behaviour that will not be tolerated. 'If you impart your dislikes about certain negative behaviours early in their lives, they will learn to understand what your feelings on certain matters are.‘I think that extremes in any form in parenting are not good. Children need to be well-rounded. There's a place for work and a place for play.’
He described Mark as ‘a good student’ with ‘a special affinity for math and sciences,’ as well as a ‘very quiet guy’ who is ‘very humble’ and ‘doesn't like to boast about his accomplishments’.
‘I'm proud of his accomplishments and the accomplishments of all my kids,’ he added.
Dr Zuckerberg was asked for his opinion of the film ‘The Social Network’, which portrays how Mark and his friend Eduardo Saverin co-founded Facebook and recently won Best Picture at the Golden Globes.
He said: ‘If I sat back and looked at it as a movie and not as a story about my son, it was a tolerable experience.’
But he added that there were aspects of the film ‘which did not accurately reflect the way certain situations occurred. That was disturbing to me.’
Dr Zuckerberg said he uses Facebook to promote his dental practice and spends about an hour a day on the site. He also still does Mark's ‘routine dental care.’
Source:Daily Mail Reporter
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